Race summit nears deadline

DURBAN, South Africa (CNN) -- Delegates at the U.N. racism conference are attempting to thrash out an agreed final communique before time runs out.

Representatives have been split over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and slavery reparations and now the divisions threaten to derail the goal of creating a global blueprint to fight discrimination.

The gathering was extended into Saturday to give delegates extra hours to iron out differences.

Chief European Union negotiator Louis Michel said: "The concrete results of this conference are essential to the fight against racism around the world."

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But sources close to the Middle East discussions said they were not optimistic that a consensus can be reached, a sense of pessimism shared by those involved in the slavery debate.

The European Union agreed earlier on Friday to a compromise calling on those responsible for slavery to find ways to restore the dignity of victims, resolving a key issue deadlocking the U.N. conference against racism, EU spokesman Koen Vervaeke said.

The statement amounted to an apology, he said, but would block any attempt to seek reparations.

The European Union has been unwilling to issue an outright apology because it felt that would leave it open to legal action.

The United States and Israel both withdrew their mid-level delegations early in the conference after Arab members pushed for wording which would have equated Zionism with racism.

While the conference's documents are not legally binding, all countries promise to fulfill the pledges made in it when they adopt it.

African countries are pushing for slavery and colonialism to be labeled "crimes against humanity" and for Western countries to pay reparations.

The EU has rejected both calls, Vervaeke said.

The text on slavery to which the key parties agreed to on Friday read: "The World Conference Against Racism further notes that some have taken the initiative of regretting, or expressing remorse, or presenting apologies, and calls on all those who have not yet contributed to restoring the dignity of the victims to find appropriate ways to do so, and to this end we appreciate those countries that have done so."

Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the secretary-general of the conference, said on Friday morning that the likely final declaration from the conference would be nothing to get "very excited about" because of the compromises needed to reach consensus.